* It could be that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan do not understand the how Medicare works. If Romney and Ryan are able to win and "reform" Medicare, the program would be gone.
NY Times:
Mitt Romney’s promise to restore $716 billion that he says President Obama “robbed” from Medicare
has some health care experts puzzled, and not just because his running
mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, included the same savings in his
House budgets.
The 2010 health care law
cut Medicare reimbursements to hospitals and insurers, not benefits for
older Americans, by that amount over the coming decade. But repealing
the savings, policy analysts say, would hasten the insolvency of
Medicare by eight years — to 2016, the final year of the next
presidential term, from 2024....
...What Mr. Romney proposes to restore to Medicare, however, is not money
but additional costs, for higher payments to hospitals, insurers and
other care providers. Lobbying groups representing some care providers
accepted those reductions during the health care debate, and in exchange
they got the law’s mandate for nearly all individuals to have
insurance, which meant that providers and insurers would have millions
of new paying patients and policyholders.....
President Obama saved $716 billion by closing the donut hole, cutting overcharges, and cutting costs. If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, the Romney-Ryan administration would open up the donut hole and seniors would pay more.
Allowing Romney and Ryan to get their hands on Medicare would spell disaster for seniors. Now go and explain that to your brother-in-law that thinks Romney is his savior.
> Have you seen the open letter written by a rape victim to Republican Rep. Todd Akin? It has been posted at UniteWomen, and it deserves your attention.
• Paul Ryan spoke against allowing a woman to have an abortion, even if her life was threatened (LINK).
